Cabinet Office

Government response to Electoral Commission and Association of Electoral Administrators reports

Chloe Smith: The Government has published its responses to the Electoral Commission’s reports on the administration of the December 2019 UK Parliamentary General Election and May 2019 European Parliamentary (and Local) Elections.We have combined our response to the report on the General Election and European Parliamentary (and Local) Elections with the recommendations made in the positions statements of the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) where they are relevant to those polls.We are grateful for the recommendations produced by all these organisations and thank them for their work. These reports aid the Government in monitoring the effectiveness of electoral legislation; help us to make improvements and to identify future policy challenges and possible resolutions.The Government will continue to work with these organisations, as well as electoral administrators and other partners, to improve our electoral system and ensure the effective running of elections. The Electoral Commission research found that people were very satisfied with the process of registering to vote and voting at the 2019 UK General Election. These were similar to positive levels of satisfaction that were found at other recent UK-wide elections or referendums.The Government is committed to ensuring a flourishing and secure democracy and through these measures it is acting to promote the integrity of our electoral system. The Government takes the integrity and security of our democratic processes very seriously. We will continue to safeguard against future risks, strengthen our resilience and ensure that the regulatory framework is as effective as possible.Copies of these Government responses will be placed in the libraries of both Houses.Government response to EC and AEA reports (pdf, 205.8KB)

Treasury

Contingencies Fund Advance

Jesse Norman: HM Revenue and Customs will incur new expenditure in connection with the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21 Parliamentary approval for additional resources of £100,000,000 for this new expenditure will be sought in a Supplementary Estimate for HM Revenue and Customs. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £100,000,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund. In line with the OBR forecasts, further requests to the Contingencies Fund may be made as necessary to fund Covid-19 activity delivered by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.